To identify the twenty safest cities in Connecticut, Safewise says they reviewed the 2016 FBI crime report statistics and population data. Cities that fell below identified population thresholds or that failed to submit a complete crime report to the FBI were excluded from the ranking system, they say.

"Our evaluation is based on the number of reported violent crimes (aggravated assault, murder, rape, and robbery) in each city. If there was a tie, we also factored in the number of property crimes (burglary, arson, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft)," Safewise explains.

To level the playing field, Safewise calculated the rate of crimes per 1,000 people in each city.